Cost-effective camp: Bring s'mores, sleeping bags to your backyard

Wednesday

Apr 29, 2009 at 12:01 AMApr 29, 2009 at 3:23 AM

No budget for summer camp this year? Give your kids some outdoor adventures and camp memories in your own backyard. Use items around the house and customize activities to suit kids’ ages and interests. Here are some tips on how to do it right.

Allecia Vermillion

No budget for summer camp this year? Give your kids some outdoor adventures and camp memories in your own backyard. Use items around the house and customize activities to suit kids’ ages and interests. Here are some tips on how to do it right.

Clear the calendar

A camp isn’t really a camp if you’ve got to stop halfway through the day for tennis lessons or a dentist appointment. Make sure kids are available the entire week, and let them know activities will last all day and into the night.

Plan enough activities to fill the days and nights, and consider including kids’ friends, neighbors or cousins. Added campers can make games and activities more fun.

Do arts and crafts

With so many high-tech pastimes available, kids need a chance to be creative and make something with their hands, says Jared Knight, author of “101 Age-Appropriate Camp Activities” and manager of programs at Aspen Grove Family Camp in Utah.

A new theme each day brings the promise of new activities and can help your camp appeal to siblings’ different interests. Themes can direct the day’s games, projects and activities.

Some of Knight’s favorite themes for campers include cowboy and cowgirl day, astronaut day, and farmer day. Or select one theme, like sports or arts, that can last all week.

Make snack time an adventure

Whether it’s s’mores in the microwave or hot dogs toasted over an outdoor grill, be prepared with food that’s fun. Knight swears by the classic “ants on a log” made with celery, cream cheese or peanut butter, and raisins.

Of course, campers should prepare and eat food outside when possible. Bonus points if you can pull off a small outdoor campfire.

Give your camp an identity

A name, a theme and a flag make the difference between backyard activities and an actual summer camp. Making a flag doesn’t have to be elaborate. Just give kids a pillowcase and fabric markers, then fly your flag with pride.

If your campers are divided into teams, Knight also likes giving kids the alphabet of nautical flags so they can spell out their team name, or first names, in code.

SIDEBAR

3 popular camp themes

Circus camp

Put on a circus with help from household items. Set up three “rings” and have kids plan what activities they will host in each one. Campers can make balloon animals, construct stilts out of tin cans, paint faces and design posters announcing the circus has come to town.

International camp

Spend each day exploring a different country. Sample or prepare some simple native dishes, discuss the customs and learn a few basic phrases in the language. Keep track of your “travels” on a map or globe.

Grand Prix racecar camp

Plan a day or week of activities around your backyard raceway. Kids can race on scooters, or with remote-control cars. Mimic a pit crew with a relay race where each team member tries to complete a task the fastest. Cap off the week with an old-fashioned soapbox derby.

EXTREME FRUGAL IDEA: Nothing says “camp” like sleeping outdoors. Borrow some tents and dig those sleeping bags out from the basement.